Tool holder for a pickling machine and tool combination for use in such a holder

ABSTRACT

On a pickling machine different kinds of tools can be connected to a common take-up means (1) at choice. Each kind of tools has a connection head (5) which can be connected to the take-up means (1) and carries the tools (needles (13) and/or knives (14)). All connection heads (5) are formed equal to each other and have openings (25) for the needles (13), through which openings the brine streams. Thereby the pickling machine can be used also as a tenderizer (FIG. 4).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention refers to a tool holder for a pickling machine in which ona pricking frame at least one row of take-up means is provided which areequal among each another end each of which is provided with a brinesupply line, to which take-up means tools can be fixed at choice whichare different among each other and are formed by kinds of picklingneedles provided with brine channels, each tool having a connection headwhich can be tightly connected to the take-up means, which connectionhead fits for all tools into the take up means, the connection headsbeing provided with connection channels for the brine supply to eachpickling needle, which channels can be connected to the brine supplyline.

Such tool holders in modern pickling machines have the advantage thatthe pickling operation can be adapted to different kinds of meat anddifferent sizes of the meat pieces. Some kinds of meat need acomparatively great amount of pickling brine so that strong picklingneedles are used having a comparatively wide inner brine channel. Otherkinds of meat, however, require a more tender pickling operation so thatthinner needles are used which serve for the injection of less amountsof brine per time unit. At choice-connection by screwing of theconnection heads of the several kinds of needles enables one to changefrom one kind of needles to another kind of needles and therefor fromone kind of pickling operation to another kind of pickling operation,always with the same machine. Therefore, the machine can be used withonly less alterations for a broad field of application. Theseinstallations are on the market.

It is also known to screw a plurality of needles to a common cross pieceof a pickling machine, which cross piece serves for supplying the brine(FR-A No. 1,395,301).

On the other hand, machines are known in which knives are fixed to aframe member which is moved up and down, which knives stab into themeat. With such knives the meat can be tenderized by making cuts, what,for example, is desired for such kinds of meat which later on shall beused as steak meat, why such machines sometimes are also called"steakers". It is also know (FR-A-No. 1 2,032,012) to fixly provideneedles and knives on a common carrier member which can be actuated byhand or automatically. Finally it is know within a hand-actuatedapparatus (U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,651), to provide a plurality of knives ona screw cap which is screwed onto the end of a container for a treatmentliquid which flows out through openings of the bottom of the screw cap.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention has at an object to still increase the said versatility ofa pickling machine and to make the pickling machine with less effortalso applicable to such kinds of meat for which--if desired in additionto a pickling operation--a tenderizing operation is required. With this,the alterations necessary therefor shell be practicable in an easymanner, quickly and reliably with less effort in operation. Theinvention solves this task by providing further connection heads for atchoice-fixing to these take-up means, which connection heads carry ontheir bottom knives and/or combinations of needles and/or combinationsof knives and needles, each connecting head being adapted to be pluggedto the take-up means and having openings for the passage f brine onlyfor the needles carried by this connection head, however is tight withrespect to the brine supply line for the knives, a pull-of safetymeasure for the connecting head being provided, for example a serrationplate engaging the connecting head from below and being provided withslots into which the needles or knives, respectively, enter. In thismanner a pickling machine can be changed by few manipulations to amachine with which also or only a tenderizing of the meat should bedone. Therefore, with on single machine following operations arepossible: pickling alone, tenderizing or steaking, respectively, alone,pickling combined with tenderizing (steaking). Each one of these threekinds of operation can be done in a different manner, because the kindand the number of pickling needles can be changed as well as the kindand number of knives. Thus, for example, it is possible to connectseveral tools, for example two or four pickling needles or knives,respectively on a common connecting head through which the picklingliquid is fed to the channels of the needles, however not to the knives.A change-over between the single kinds of operation can be done withoutany problem, inasmuch plugging of the single tools to the take-up meanscan be done more quickly and more reliably than by means of a screwconnection because within the latter always there is the danger that bycareless handling the screw thread member are not correctly connected toeach other so that the screw threads are damaged and therefore the toolis defectively connected to the take-up means, besides of the dangerthat the incorrectly mounted screw thread connection becomes upright forthe brine. In contradiction thereto, within the inventive subject anundesired escape of brine is reliably prevented by the connecting headsbeing tight for the knives. The pull-off safety measure prevents thatthe connection head is pulled-off the take-up means by the pressure ofthe supplied brine or by the resistance exerted by the meat when thetools (needles or knives, respectively) having entered the meat pulledout. A serration plate forming the pull-off safety means may be slidablyguided in a guide of the pricking frame or may be connected theretoswivellably.

According to a further embodiment of the invention each connecting headhas a body member which can be plugged in the take-up means, which bodymember is connected to a sleeve forming the bottom, preferably by screwthreads, all body members preferably being formed equal to each other.This two-piece construction of the connecting head on the one handfacilitates its manufacture, on the other hand thereby an easy cleaningof the brine channels provided within the connecting head becomespossible, the screwed connection of the two body member piecesfacilitating disassembling of the body member. Body members being equalto each other enable one to interchange the several elements. Aparticular favourable construction is achieved within the invention ifbetween the bottom of the sleeve and the body member there is a hollowspace, when the sleeve is connected to the body member, into whichhollow space the brine openings are connected. This hollow space, as itwere, constitutes a distribution chamber for the brine supplied throughthe brine supply line, that enhances an uniform distribution of thebrine over all needles provided. Preferably, within the scope of theinvention, the connection head is inserted by means of a pint into afitting bore of the take-up means, the pin being intersected by thebrine channel and being symmetrically with respect to rotation, the boreforming an enlargement of the brine supply line. Such a plug pin is easyto mount and enables one to turn the tool around its longitudinal axis,what is of advantage with various respects: On the one hand it enablesone to adjust the direction of the cuts of the knives as desired, on theone hand this possibility exists also for the direction with which thebrine leaves the pickling needles. The combined arrangement of knivesand pickling needles has already the advantage that the distribution ofthe brine in the meat is made more favourable by the cuts produced bythe knives, however this holds as much as more brine is injected intothe meat in direction towards these cuts. When using a slotted serrationplate, the rotation-symmetric form of the pin has also the advantagethat the corresponding tool can be so turned that its knives or needles,respectively, can enter the slots of the serration plate without anyproblem.

The invention further refers to a tool combination for use in a toolholder of the described kind. The inventive combination consist in thatat least one needle and at least one knife are connected to a commonconnecting head. As already mentioned, thereby a combined pickling andtenderizing operation is possible. Providing the needle and the knife ona common connection head shows the advantage that these tools aredisposed. very close to each other so that the pickling liquid injectedby the needle can reach the cuts into the meat to be treated formed bythe knives, and this at a time at which these cuts are just formed sotaht the cut cannot close again. Thereby the pickling liquid can betterreach the meat portions neighbouring the region in which the needlesticks in, particularly if according to a further embodiment of theinvention a plurality of knives are connected to the connection headaround a central needle, preferably spaced in equal distances from eachother. Thereby the pickling liquid supplied by the needle is distributedin all directions so that local excesses or defects of pickling arebetter avoided as this was possible until now. The best results areobtained within the scope of the invention, if the knives are disposedradially with respect to the central needle, because the radiallydisposed cuts made by the knives enhance the stream of the brineradially outward from the point at which the needle sticks in.

Another inventive tool combination for use in a tool holder of thedescribed kind consists in that at least two knives are fixed to acommon connection head. Thereby an intensive treatment of the meat inthe sense of a tenderizing or steakening operation is obtained, bydifferent directions of the knife planes different fibre directions inthe meat being reliably covered so that the desired effect isindependent from the direction of the fibres in the respective piece ofmeat or from the manner in which this piece of meat is positioned on thesupport of the machine, respectively.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings the subject matter of the invention is schematicallyshown by way of examples.

FIGS. 1 shows four different tools in side view.

FIG. 2 is as section along the line II--II of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows in side view a combination tool connected to a take-upmeans.

FIG. 4 shows a detail of FIG. 3 in an enlarged scale and in section and;

FIG. 5 is a section along the line V--V of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 shows how such tools are disposed on a pickling machine and

FIG. 7 is a section along the line VII--VII of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

On a pickling machine 26 (FIGS. 6,7) the material to be pickled(particularly meat) is supplied on a support surface 27 formed as aconveyor band to the tools 28, for example to injection needles forbrine to be injected. The tools 28 are held in a needle box 29 which isdisposed shiftably towards the support surface 27. The needle box 29 isfixed to a pricking frame 30 formed by tubes, which frame is shiftablybeared in slide bearings 31 of the machine frame 32 for up and downmovement. The pricking frame 30 is driven to this motion by a motor 34via a belt 35, a gearing 36 and a crankshaft 33. For supplying brine tothe injection needles, the injection needles are connected by hoses 37to the tubes of the prickling frame 30 which below is connected to ahose 38 supplied with brine from a pump 39. The pump sucks the brinefrom a brine source 40 via a hose.

In order to avoid that the tools 28 are damaged when impinging on a bonein the meat, the tools are resiliently beared in the needle box 29against the action of spring (not shown). The tools may also be mountedfor swivelling motion in the needle box.

Further, a stripper 41 is provided which is suspended on two rods 42longitudinally guided in slide bearing 43 fixed to the needle box. Eachrod 42 carries a ring 44 adjustable fixed to the rod, which ring formsthe one abutment of a spring 45, the other end of which is abuttedagainst the upper slide bearings 43. During the downward motion of theneedle box 29 the stripper 41 is taken along as long as it engages thematerial to be treated, whereupon the needle box together with the toolsis further lowered, whereas the stripper remains in its position. Thesprings 45 are compressed thereby. When the needle box 29 is liftedagain, the springs 45 are relieved and the stripper 41 is lifted off themeat as soon as he lower slide bearing 43 engages the ring 44. Thisrelative movement of the stripper 41 with respect to the needle box 29may be used in a manner known per se for controlling the stream of brineto the injection needles, so that brine only then escapes from theinjection needles if these needles have penetrated the meat.

Suitably the conveyor bank forming the support surface 27 movesstepwisely so that the material to be pickled can be treated instationary condition. For this purpose take-up means 1 (FIGS. 3,4) areprovided for taking up the tools 28 (needles and/or knives) working onthe meat, which take-up means are disposed in row transversely to thedirection of the movement of the meat, each of the take-up means beingprovided with a central brine supply line 2 for the supply of picklingliquid, which line enlarges towards the lower end of the take-up means 1in a bore 3 which is pin 4 of a connection head 5 can be plugged in witha snugly fit, which in is shaped symmetrically with respect to rotation.The pin 4 has on its circumference a plurality of annular grooves 6 forseating O-rings 7 serving for tightening the pickling liquid and isformed in one single piece on its lower end with a body member 8 of theconnection piece 5. The body member 8 carries screws threads 9 on itsouter periphery, to which screw thread inner screw threads 10 of asleeve 11 are screwed, which sleeve is closed on its lower end by abottom 12 to which at least one of the tools 28 is fixed, thus at leastone needle 13 and/or at least one knife 14. In the shown examplativeembodiment (FIG. 3, 4, 5) the sleeve 11 carriers below a central needle13, four knives being disposed around this needle in equal distancesfrom each other and symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axisof the take-up means 1.

To the brine supply line 2 of the take-up means 1 a connection channel15 in the pin 4 and in the body member 8 is connected which supplies thebrine to the bottom surface 16 of the body member 8, which surface isspaced apart from the top surface 17 of the shell 11 when same is fullyscrewed on, so that between these two surface 16,17 a hollow space 18 isformed. This hollow space 18 is tightened to the outside by an annularsealing 19 inserted between a flange of the body member 8 and the upperedge of the shell 11. The needle 13 is formed by a tube and intersectsthe bottom 12 so that the brine channel 20 of the needle is connected tothe hollow space 18. For this purpose, the bottom 12 of the shell 11(FIG. 4) has an opening 25 for each needle 13, into which opening theneedle 13 can be inserted. For the knives 14 or for their fixing pintson the bottom 12, this bottom, however, is tight so that no brine canescape unintentionally. From the brine channel 20 of the needle 13 thebrine which is supplied through the brine supply line 2 under pressure,flows out through one or more openings 21 (FIGS. 3) in the region of thetip of the needle 13.

In order to avoid that the connection head 15 is pulled off the take-upmeans 1 by the brine pressure in the hollow space 18, a serration plate22 may be provided which may be slidably guided in a guide means 23(FIG. 3) of the needle box in horizontal direction. This serration plate22 is provided with slots 24 extending in direction of the shiftingmovement, into which slots the tools (needles 13 or knives 14,respectively) enter in the serration position of the serration plate 22(FIG. 5). In the serration position the serration plate 22 can besecured by fixing means (not shown), for example by a resilientprotrusion entering into a notch, in order to avoid an unintentionalloosening.

After having shifted back the serration plate 22, the connection head 5together with the tools carried by it can be easily separated from thetake-up means 1. This plug-in-connection enables it to change the toolscarried by the respective connection head 5 against other tools withoutany problem. These other tools are tool combinations, respectively, arefixed to connection heads 5 (FIG. 1) of equal kind of equal size, whichfit into the take-up means 1. In FIG. 1 by a,b,c,d, four examples areshown, from which the example d shows a tool combination built up as amultiple tool, which tool combination corresponds so that according toFIG. 3 to 5, thus having a central needle 13 or four knives 14 disposedin a circle around the needle. This tool combination, therefor,constitutes a multiple knife with needle.

Within the tool combination c (FOG. 1) four knives 14 are disposed inthe same manner as with the combination d, however there is no centralneedle.

Within the tool combination b four needles 13 equal to each other aredisposed in a square. This tool combination, therefore, forms a multipleneedle.

Within the variant a only one single needle 13 is fixed to theconnection head 5, which needle, however may be thicker and may beprovided with a brine channel 20 having a greater diameter than withinthe needle 13 of the variant b.

Within the variants c and d the knives 14 the cross section planes ofthe knives 14 are disposed radially with respect to the center or to theaxis of the needle 13, respectively. This favourizes the distribution ofthe pickling brine quantity injected by the needle in the meat.

The tool combinations shown in FIG. 1 may also comprise needles ofdifferent thickness.

Instead of a shiftable serration plate 22 also a pivotably bearedserration plate can be used, which for example can be held on the needlebox 29 pivotably around a horizontal axis or may also be swivellablearound a vertical axis.

The needle box and the tools may be covered by a housing 46 (FIG. 6)shown with dash and dot lines.

I claim:
 1. Tool holder for a pickling machine comprising a prickingframe having at least one row of take-up means is provided equal to eachother and each including a brine supply line;take-up means toolsselectively affixed to said brine supply line at a chosen position, saidtake-up means tools being different from each other and includingpickling needles having brine channels formed therein, each tool havinga connection head tightly connected to said take-up means; each saidconnection head fitting into said take-up means, and including aconnection channel for the brine supply to each pickling needle, saidconnection channels being connected to said brine supply line; saidconnection heads being disposed at said chosen position, said connectionheads including a bottom and combinations of one or more knives and,needles disposed on said bottoms; each connecting head having means forplugging to said take-up means and openings for the stream of the brineonly for the needles carried by the connection head, said take-up meansbeing closed with respect to the brine supply line for the knives; and apull-off safety measure for the connection head, engaging the connectionhead from below and having slots entered by the needles or knives,respectively.
 2. Tool holder according to claim 1 wherein said means forplugging comprises a body member, and a sleeve for connection to saidbottom.
 3. Tool holder according to claim 1, a hollow space formedbetween the connection of said sleeve and said body member, saidopenings being connected to said hollow space.
 4. Tool holder accordingto claim 1, wherein said take-up means includes a fitting bore, a pinfor inserting said connection head into said fitting bore, the pin beingintersected by the brine channel and being symmetrical with respect torotation, the bore forming an enlargement of the brine supply line. 5.Tool combination for use in a tool holder according to claim 1, whereinat least one needle and at least one knife are connected to a commonconnection head.
 6. Tool combination according to claim 5, wherein aplurality of knives are connected to the connection head around acentral needle.
 7. Tool combination according to claim 6, wherein planesof the knives are disposed radially with respect to the central needle.8. Tool combination for use in a tool holder according to claim 1, whereat least two knives are connected to a common connection head.
 9. Toolholder according to claim 1 wherein said pull-off safety measurecomprises a locking plate.
 10. Tool holder according to claim 2 whereinsaid bottom is connected to said sleeve by a screw connection.
 11. Toolholder according to claim 2 wherein said body members are formed equalto each other.
 12. Tool combination according to claim 6 wherein saidplurality of knives are spaced around said central needle at equaldistances from each other.